Laced with Gold
by patthewind
Summary: Leaving your home town to travel with a group of strangers seems to be the new trend for how to the start off the best adventure of a young mage's life. This was certainly the case for Juvia Lockser when she was charmed by Team Natsu's shenanigans as they made their way through her small town, and to her heart.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer~! Not an AU but there might be some canonically wrong facts - it's been a while since I've actually read or watched Fairy Tail.

Pairings - Gruvia, Nalu.

The magical shop with the purple cat painted on the door was the only one open after dark. There were too many risks with keeping a shop that sold magical weapons open when robbers were more prone to attack, but one look at its shabby rundown outside and they'd think it wasn't worth their effort. They were right. The inside contained nothing except for a room that barely fit a handful of customers that sold key chains and petty charms, and a backdoor leading to the storage closet where the shop owner used as a bedroom for her and her granddaughter.

The granddaughter, Juvia kept watch on the shop when her grandmother was out in the evening on her walks, and closed up when the old lady went to sleep early from her aching bones. Juvia loved to keep the doors and window open so the evening breeze blew on her often, and her small yellow desk lamp was always on to indicate they weren't closed. She was allowed to tidy up whenever she wanted to since there were no demands to stay open, so usually she liked to read on the counter since it faced directly into the streets until she felt her eyes become droopy.

It was a fun job, she enjoyed it - really. They didn't have many costumers after dark, but small children would drag their parents in for the charms, and visitors and couples would wonder in time to time to look at their keychains. She liked to hear about their lives as they were always down to tell her about what adventures they just had. Her town really could be classified as a rest station for travelling mages. Almost every other business here were inns. Also, extravagant stories were nice to hear since she hardly left the shop other than for school.

"This keychain's gem changes color based off your magic level!" she explained to a boy who had come in physically dragging his dad. She was thinking about locking up, when they wandered in last minute, looking completely scratched up. Probably just finished a mission. They worked through the shop, asking her about the abilities of each item, Juvia loved how no one who looked beat up never actually seem mentally or physically tired.

"Whao, this is cool!" He cried out, as he held onto it and walked down to the other side of the shelf.

"We need to hurry Romeo. We have to get back to Fiore before the train stations close and I spent all the reward jewels paying the town for the damage we caused. My son just completed his first mission with me but he wanted to check out your shop." The man explained. "I don't have much on me, so only 2 items." He called out.

She chuckled.

"Damage _you_ caused, Dad!" Romeo cried out, grabbing for more charms.

"What magic does your son use?" She asked as each of their items pertained to a certain type more.

"He's a pretty good fire mage." he answered proudly. "Like me."  
Juvia picked up a clear holographic crystal from the rack on her counter. "These crystals changes the color of your magic if you're a fire, water, or ice mage. Just hold it in your palm and it'll come out the color." To demonstrate, she held the crystal and made a ball of water appear. It was clear but shimmered at the edges with an array of colors, and the other hand produced a sphere of regular water.

"That's way cool!" Romeo exclaimed.

Juvia handed it to him and he instantly made clear, iridescent flames appear.

Even his dad looked impressed and asked how much for one crystal.

"The crystals burn out with each use so I wouldn't recommend using it for big fights, maybe just to show your friends." Juvia advised.

They walked out of the store with 5, 3 for Romeo, and the dad keeping one for himself and one for their friend.

Juvia signed wistfully when she realized the boy had a Fairy Tail insignia on his arm as she was ringing them up. The infamous Guild that was heavily talked about in her small town. A few of its members would stop by from time to time, always with the biggest personalities, most interesting conversations, and brightest smiles.

No one passed by their shop for the next few minutes, so with a wave of her hand the fire in the lamp was extinguished with a bit of water, and she shut the door but not the window, and escaped to her room.

Her days was usually went like this: In the morning she attended school, which was a non-magical high school where she was the youngest at 17 in her 12th year, she then spends her afternoons studying or shopping, and then her keeping shop duties. Her town didn't have a magical school that went to her age since most mages would have joined guilds by 15 or 16, but she decided she wouldn't be able to leave her grandmother to run the shop herself when she was 15 years old and stayed behind to help. She had piles of magic books she read to help her understand her own magical abilities, since she realized she was definitely a water mage by the time she started non-magical schooling.

Days like this pass by in blinks. It must've been a few months since her last encounter with another Fairy Tail mage.

Her run in with the little Fairy Tail boy still popped up in her memories from time to time. He probably went on so many missions by himself by then, she thought wistfully, and he couldn't have been more than 13. Such a strong mage by 13 - when she was 13 she was learning how to close up the shop herself and was finally able to summon enough water to hope to perform a water whip.

"Darling, grandma is going on her walk today."

"Okay Gran! Take it easy tonight, you said that your knees have been hurting lately." Juvia called out.

She stayed by the counter hours later, even until she heard the tell tale even breathes from her sound asleep grandma from the back room. Today she stayed up much later than usual since she called an early night yesterday for her math test in the morning. The sky was extremely bright from a full moon so she forwent her book for staring out the window instead.

She lost herself within a few moments, thinking about how nice it would be if another Fairy Tail mage showed up tonight.

"Excuse me." a voice called out which started her. She must have been zoned out pretty hard.

She looked up and there was someone about her age who looked worn out, bone tired like he could collapse at any moment.

"Are you guys an inn?" He asked. From the outside their shop certainly didn't look like an inn but they must've been the only not restaurant open this late and perhaps this boy was desperate.

His tired eyes were held up by obviously bags and scratches covered his face and body.

"Sorry no, we're a shop." She explained. "but there's one down the street. It has a flying boar on its door." She pointed east, and told him that hopefully it's open at this time.

"Thanks." He said gruffly.

She stared back out at the window, back to her daydream. What is he was a Fairy Tail mage, she thought, a bit wistfully. He certainly looked like the type to come from a guild famous for overdoing every mission they're assigned to.

"Um sorry to bother you again." She was snapped out of her daydream once again by same guy but this time with a blonde girl by his side. "The inn was closed, so do you know where the closest train station is? Also my friend needs to use the bathroom."

"The closest station is a 20 minute walk up this road." Juvia answered. She turned to the girl "And the washroom is in my bedroom. But we have to go quietly I can't wake my grandmother."

Side stepping off her stool, Juvia led the girl into her bathroom as quietly as she can, and returned to the counter.

"Which way down the road?" The guy asked.  
"The opposite way that's to the inn." Juvia explained, using her hands to pointing left. "The station's central downtown so it should be pretty busy and visible when you're close." She explained.

"Alright" he said. "Thanks again."

A loud obnoxious voice broke through from outside, "What's taking Lucy so damn long, how longs a fricken piss?" it called out.  
A boy with spiky pink hair marched in the shop with another girl with brilliant red hair also marching behind him.

"Shut up Natsu I was trying to fix my hair!" The blonde girl, Lucy, called out as she shut the bedroom door softly behind her. "You must have burned off almost an inch!"

Juvia cringed at the volume of their voices since her grandma was asleep, but Lucy beat her to addressing it, but perhaps not in the most effective way.  
"Also, be quiet! There's an old lady sleeping in there!" she tried to whisper, but was completely unaware of how loud she was also being.

"Shit sorry" the boy, Natsu said equally loud. He scanned the room really quick and his eyes widened.

"Oh My god! That's that cool crystal that made my fire rainbow that time! That Romeo showed me!." Natsu cried out, excited. He ran to the shelf and got on his knees, staring at the small keychain impressively. Juvia's eyes widened. They were Fairy Tail mages.

"Okay but hurry, we should try to either find a place to crash, or get on the train as soon as possible I'm about to fall asleep standing up." The girl with red hair said.

Natsu seemed to pay her no attention as he didn't seem close to tired, and he excitedly tried every crystal he could find, producing multiple balls of green, white, and rainbow fires.

"Hey, Gray, Macao said it worked for ice magic too. But it looks way cooler on flames though." Natsu said towards the guy who asked Juvia the questions.

"No way you stuck up lizard, look how amazing this purple ice looks." He said, immediately making a chunks of purple ice after grabbing the closest charm next to Natsu.

"Nothing can beat clear, rainbow flames though." Natsu argued, making his ball of flames bigger.

"Guy's please stop I can barely stand I'm so tired!" Lucy called out, dramatically leaning against the counter and glancing at Juvia.

"You weren't closing soon right?" She asked, concerned, her voice back at a normal volume. "You're the only shop that's open, so we thought we'd just be asking directions. But these 2.. Can't take them anywhere."

Not only were the boy's argueing about their magic, but the other girl had picked up a strawberry chain and looked back at Lucy with huge puppy dog eyes.

"This is so cute!" She called out with unexpected gusto. "I must own this strawberry scented keychain."

"Sigh, these 3 anywhere." Lucy corrected.

"No worries at all." Juvia smiled brightly. "What magic do you use miss?" Juvia asked, curious.

"I'm a celestial mage. Would you guys happen to sell celestial keys?"

Juvia's eyes widened, as her mother was a celestial mage, and her many keys were kept in a box on her bed. She's never met another one before, so to it they had become to be a rare and beautiful kind of magic.

"I'm sorry, we don't sell them." Juvia apologized genuinely.

"Yeah, that's fine, I'm acting like even have enough jewels after having to pay back the town for the damage they caused. I'm just glad these 3 haven't burned down your shop yet." She sounded exasperated, as if she was trying really hard to only be joking.

"We'll take these!" The 3 voices called out, right in unison.

Juvia happily rang up their items, copious amounts of charms and cute keychains.

"Sorry to bother you! Your shop was just adorable. Have a great night!" Lucy called out when Juvia finished ringing them up, waved goodbye and thanked her for the directions. Juvia gave a wordless smile back, afraid again that the noise had awaken her grandmother.

Now would be a good time to close up for tonight, noting how they had bought out almost everything she can put on display for the week. When she was climbing into bed slowly and quietly as to not wake her grandma. She closed her eyes and heard, "Darling, you should join them, if that's you want."

"Gran, I thought you were asleep!" Juvia exclaimed in surprised, feeling guilty that she had woken her. She didn't register the actual words that had been spoken yet.

"Darling, you shouldn't have to stay with me just because you're scared I won't be okay by myself."

"What are you saying?" Juvia started, but fell silent, shocked.

"Gran.." Juvia said again, when her grandma didn't respond.

"Go to sleep darling, we can talk in the morning." She said, and Juvia swore she heard a smile in her voice.

"Okay..Goodnight." Juvia said softly.

Unsure why she was suddenly so struck with this emotion, Juvia bit her lip until she heard the gentle breathing again. She too, drifted off to sleep after a while, but dreaming of a nightmarish scenario of her flooding her town, but being unable to stop the water from flowing out of her.

The next morning, Juvia almost forgotten the conversation with her grandma being shaken up from her nightmare, until breakfast time when her grandma was sitting on the porch with a cup of tea, offering a kind smile.

It wasn't that Juvia had never imagined what kind of life she would have if she had decided to focus on her magical abilities over her magical history knowledge (Her life path had been to become a teacher), but she made sure to never vocalize her thoughts, or even show the extent her own magic had secretly gotten to

"Darling, do you want to to talk about it?" She asked, offering a piece of toast.

Juvia stuffed it in her mouth. "Don't be silly, I don't even want to leave. I have to look over this shop." She mumbled with her mouth full.

"Juvia, I know you long to join a guild with other mages, and you ought to. I really should have presented you that option by the time I noticed your undeniable magical abilities, but I was too scared to let you into that world. I was scared that same thing that happened to your dad will happen to you. But I have watched you grow, child. I know you are different from him, you take after your lovely mom. You deserve to have a chance at a life you desire so badly but would never ask for."

"Gran, I would never leave you here. Who'll look after the shop? And you?" Juvia cried, trying to act as if this idea was a surprise to her. "Besides, a lot of mages have been at our shop. Why would you suddenly suggest this? Now?" Juvia asked, earnestly.

Her grandmother let out a laugh. "Darling don't pretend you take care of me, you can hardly make dinner without jeopardizing our entire shop. Besides, who taught you how to take care of all these things. I was once a strong a mage too, these bones are frail from how I don't work them anymore. If i stop lazing around I'll be brand new in no time. And darling I've always wondered if you should be hanging out with kids your age and not just an old lady." She finishes.

Juvia stared at her in genuine shock. "Gran, you can't be serious! I already have a job as a supply teacher at the school! What would I tell them, and I have no suitcase, or anything to pack, the idea is ridiculous! I'll have nowhere to live and you know I can't cook. Let me open shop right now it's almost 9." Juvia hastily pushed herself off the porch, and her grandma grabbed her wrist.

"I'm serious darling. One look at you and I know you don't belong trapped in Atha with me, you belong in Fiore, maybe even in Fairy Tail. I hear the way you talk about magic, I see the books you spend all your money on. They're magic books, and I know you're a powerful mage without you ever having to tell me. Just let l me when you've changed your mind."

Juvia waited her for grip to loosen, and begun grabbing boxes of merchandise from the back of their bedroom to set up. Obviously thoughts were whirling through her head, but she willed herself not to settle on any one of them.

"I would also like to have a single bedroom for once!" Her grandma called out in a joking tone as she was fixing up the cash register from the front which did Juvia make laugh.

Throughout the day, Juvia felt her unease lighten up, as she and her grandma joked through the day as usually they do all Saturdays. They never brought up this morning's conversation topic, and Juvia tried not to let herself think about it much.

She was out buying lunch when she ran into 4 very familiar, loud, characters.

"Natsu, you're going to get us so lost" Lucy was screaming, as they fought over a map in the middle of the road. She was on her tippy toes trying to grab at the edge but he held it high in the air, and was squinting at it.

"The map is fucking upside down you dumbass." Gray, who was shirtless, screamed, reaching across Lucy to also try and grab it from Natsu.

She could clearly see the blue mark on his chest, and the mark on Natsu's arm and Lucy's hand. Definitely Fairy Tail insignias.  
"That map better not have been upside down the whole day or I swear you're be walking upside down on your hands once I tie up your legs Dragneel." Erza joined, yanking his elbow down and snatching the map from his hands easily.

They were causing quite a ruckus and many townspeople were slowly leaving a large circle of space around them, but they didn't seem to notice how loud they were being.

"These big shot mages really don't have much humility" A nearby shop owner whispered to his wife, wide eyed.

"I'll say, did you hear the things they were calling each other earlier." She responded, with a side eye.

Juvia was surprised, since she thought they had left the town last night. She ducked her head and tried walked past them.

"Oh hey! It's the girl who gave us directions last night! Hey!" Natsu's already distinguishable voice called out.

"Natsu, you can't buy half her shop and expect her to want to see you again the next day, leave her alone!" Lucy shouted when she too spotted Juvia. "Hi, um sorry to bother you!"

"Lucy are you completely dense, she should be happy we bought so much of her stuff, that's what good business is?" he ran up to Juvia, grabbing the map which was now vertical instead of horizontal, with the large N clearly not pointing North, "We're really lost cause Gray here keeps calling bullshit on my directions and we had to go his way, we're just trying to find the station again."

"Oh um, the station is just down this street." Juvia said, " You don't have to take any turns."

Natsu scrunched up the map. "Okay guys, down this road, no turns. Let's go."

"You didn't have to ruin the map." Lucy yelled. "Thank you so much, we're so sorry about this." She grabbed the scrunched up map from his hands and threw it at his head.

"I don't mean to pry, but did something happen last night? Was the station closed?" Juvia asked, only because she was genuinely confused if this group had even made it downtown.

"Funny story actually." Erza said, with the Strawberry keychain comedically bouncing from the pommel of the sword hanging on her waist. "We were so lost last night that we didn't realize that this was the town our adjacent mission was in until we saw its name at the train station. We found the cheapest inn we could downtown and just completed that mission an hour ago."

"We're not that hopeless with directions." Lucy laughed, catching on to the reason Juvia asked. "Surprisingly these dumbasses aren't too useless, until the moment we put a map in their faces. Makes them short circuit or something."

"They're more of the get lost as hell, but then we'll know the place like the back of our hand after type." Erza cleared up.

Juvia laughed, as they certainly looked to be the type. The 4 of them were even more roughed up, except the one that bought the Strawberry chain since she was covered in armor, but Lucy's hair looked even shorter and the ends were unfortunately looking even more burnt.

"Well since we know the way now, do you have any restaurants you recommend, we're starving." Gray asked. "There's no need to go back and deal with Makarov this early in the day…" He trailed off, his tone tinged with fear.

The others looked at each other, and Lucy eyed the bags of food Juvia held.

"That is a good idea.." She agreed.

"Well the place i just got this from is pretty good, I can take you it's like a 2 minute walk." Juvia answered, lifting her bad of buns from her favourite store. "Really cheap and nice too."

"That'll be very appreciated, by the way, I'm Erza. This is my team, Natsu, Gray and Lucy. Your keychains are super adorable. Perhaps I'll buy a few more on our way out of Atha."

"Always feel free to drop by again!" Juvia said.

"See, we were good business." Ntaus said to Lucy.

"Did you make them yourself?" Erza asked, intrigued. "The strawberry is the cutest."

"Yep. The smell is actually based off this cake shop that's really close to the store, you should really stop by there if you like strawberry cakes!"

"Okay gang, that's what we're doing next!" She exclaimed, with sparkling eyes.

"Can't say no to anything Erza says." Lucy sighed. "So, what's your name?" Lucy asked. Natsu and Gray were behind them, throwing the crumpled map at each other, and Erza had gone to scold them.

"Juvia Lockser." She said.

"Are you also a mage?"

"Yeah, a water mage."

"Hey, that's kind of like Gray." Lucy said.

"Oh cool, you're a mage?" Natsu asked, when they stopped fighting after Erza finally unsheathed her sword and cut the map to smithereens "What are you doing selling knick knacks in this boring town. You should totally join a guild. Like ours." He proudly flexed his arm with the Fairy Tail sign.

"Oh, I have to take care of this shop, and my grandmother." Juvia explained, inwardly cringing at how lame that sounds when said next to a bunch of Fairy Tail mages.

"Sounds pretty boring if you ask me." Natsu said airily.

"Hey!" Lucy scolded. "If this is what she wants to do, let her do this. I was ready to become a model before I joined just a new weeks ago so don't be dissing other jobs. Plus she's got to look after her grandmother."

"Yeah, I'm going to become a magic history teacher here too." Juvia said, almost willing herself to believe that makes up for a career of not actually using any magic.

"So what kind of water magic can you do?" Gray asked. "I'm an ice mage so I guess our magic is pretty similar."

Juvia blushed, realizing she's never had an actual conversation with another mage about her magic before. "Well I haven't really had time to train, but I am able to turn my whole body into water. It's easier than summoning a lot of water for me."

"What the heck! That's pretty awesome." Gray exclaimed. "I know I would never be able to do anything like that. But summoning ice is super easy for me"

"Show us!" Natsu yelled, pumping his fist in the air. "I'd fucking love to turn into a ball of fire." He added.

"Right now?." Juvia asked a bit hesitant, never having rly showing off any of her tricks in front of people.  
"Yes of course, that's such a cool trick!" Lucy said. Lucy reached for her bag of food and Juvia summoned her magic for a split second and easily turning into her water form. She turned back after a couple of seconds because the 4 of them were just looking at her in amazement and she had no idea how to react to this sort of situation.

"Damn that was so cool!" Natsu said. "That's the first time I've seen anything like that.

Juvia was surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah." Erza and Lucy agreed. "That was super cool."

"Thanks." Juvia said, and smiled brightly. "Well here's the place. Feel free to stop by the shop again!"

"It was so great meeting you." Lucy said reaching for her free hand with both of hers. "It'd be totally cool if you could visit our guild sometime if you ever want to leave this town. A lot of our friends would find that trick so cool."  
"You're totally welcome to join the guild, too" Erza said, with approval. "I can sense the level of your magic, and it's got to be really high to perform something that unique."

"Yeah, if you ever wanna ditch this town for a few days look for Fairy Tail for sure, but your shop is also pretty sweet." Natsu added with a cheery farewell wave and smile.

Juvia said a farewell to them, and although the words brought so much happiness to her heart, she was chokingly sad since she was sure she would never see them again. She walked away stealing her mind from the hurt, so unaware of her surroundings that once she had returns, she didn't realize her grandma was standing at the porch with a brand new backpack, and the dusty brown box she knew all her mother's keys were in.

"Darling, there is nothing stopping you, ever." her Grandma said firmly, but with a smile. "I'm really alright by myself. I;m not saying make the decision today, or even right away. But I'll leave these with you if you ever made a decision, and the decision will be completely up to you."

Juvia felt teared fill her eyes, and she didn't want them to spill over. It felt as if suddenly, the idea of leaving her life behind was actually possible, but it was an idea so absurd it felt like if she grabbed for it, she would awaken to the actual reality that couldn't possibly be this. "I don't know, gran. I don't know." Juvia choked out, running to give her grandmother a huge hug. "But thank you."

Although her dream was to become a mage, she didn't think she would be ever get over the guilt of abandoning her grandma in this town all by herself, just like her parents had with her when she was a child.

"Um… should we go in?" A quiet voice asked from outside the shop.

Natsu, Lucy, Gray and Erza were standing at the doorway, each carrying almost comically huge take out bags of food.

Juvia let go of her grandma, and wiped her tears as best she could. Her grandma smiled, and disappeared to her room in the back with the food.

"We heard the conversation." Lucy said softly. "You should totally come to Fairy Tail. You could get really strong really fast there. And the missions are amazing. They take you everywhere."

"Yeah our guild hardly gets any water mages!" Natsu said.

Juvia smiled, as more tears came to her eyes.

"You'll be totally happy there. Trust me." Gray said, locking eyes with her and offering the first smile she ever saw from him.

_

Later that day, when the 3 Fairy Tail mages stood a little ways into the road, while Juvia sat on the porch with her grandma perhaps for the last time in a long while, her backpack half on, holding a box of keys in her lap. She couldn't believe what was happening. Taking her last looks at her tiny grandmother, she realized although she was small, the air around her was practically gleaming with wisdom and what could possibly be renewed strength?

"Ill come pick you up and you can visit me after i get settled." Juvia said.

"I would love that, darling."

"What about monday, I was supposed to teach the year 9 history class!"

"Don't even worry about all this small stuff darling. I'll take care of all of it. Just promise me one thing. Become as good a mage as your mom."

"Of course." Juvia said, gripping the box harder, and blinking away tears.

They hugged for as long as Juvia could bare, and her grandma waved goodbye to heras Juvia walked to the street to the 3... could she even call them strangers at this point.

Lucy put a supportive arm around her the whole walk, while Natsu walked ahead with Erza as they loudly pointed out all the things they missed last time to each other.

She ended up sitting next to Gray on the train, seperate from the other three because they didn't want Natsu's motion sickness to gross her out right after meeting him. ("takes some of his charm away" Lucy said.) He had a shirt on again, mostly because Erza warned him they might not let them on the train ('again') if he wasn't fully dressed.

He was in a much better mood than last night. He was quite chatty too, telling her everything about his first day at Fairy Tail, about how he was also nervous, and scared to leave his hometown although there wasn't much of it. He told her about the monster named Deloria who he had killed 2 times, once with his passed mentor/stepmom, and his the second time with his team. It was a heavy story, but he brushed over the bad part quickly, and focused on how that was his first mission with Lucy and it had brought all of them closer even tho he Natsu and Erza had basically grown up together since childhood. He told her about how well Lucy's adjusted, and that Juvia will definitely meet a bunch of new friends there, and that he would show her around and take her on her first mission so she wouldn't be scared. Juvia blushed at his smile when he said that. Geez, he was undeniably charming.

The whole ride she still heard Natsu retching every 10 seconds, but she couldn't help but smile to herself at how little complaining she heard from Lucy and Erza from having to take care of him and just the love and concern they had for him instead. "I miss happy :(" she heard Natsu mutter to Lucy over and over, to which Gray explained that Natsu had a pet cat named Happy that their friend Gajeel had stolen that weekend for a cat musical he was sure was close to nationals.

'It's a lot to take in for one day," he chuckled. "but you'll grow to love it."

Juvia looked out the window at the changing landscapes. This was it she couldn't believe it… her new Fairy Tale was starting.

And she was sure she would grow to love it.

If you made it this far, Thanks for reading! This is by far the longest chapter of anything I ever wrote, and it was (if you couldnt tell) started at 1am cause I was hella procrastinating.

I just love the first episode of Fairy Tail so much; it brings a lot of nostalgia cause I was so young when I watched it, and it just started off this amazing series with so much brightness and energy! I've always wished my girl Juvia to be a part of the main team, so it has led to the birth of this fic.

Leave a review if you want, maybe suggestions for the story?!

(Ps: I'm really excited to write about Juvia giving Lucy the keys, so there will definately be a second chapter but IDK if i should turn it into an entire fic.)

/hey ho to rereaders I've updated this chapter a bit. Just to fix some grammatical errors.


	2. Chapter 2

When she arrived after their long train ride, Lucy and Erza excessively apologized to Juvia about having to bring Natsu home immediately to take care of him and how they couldn't be there for the first few hours of her settling in, and then repeated it in an evil mocking tone to Gray. Who now has to single handedly tell Makarov that the guild's commission from that mission had be completely taken up by Lucy who got the remaining money after paying off the town damages to pay her rent.

Gray glared at their backs as they walked away, even at Natsu's as he was propped against lucy's shoulder, struggling to walk.

"So before I tell Makarov about the whole money thing, you're going to need to show him your cool water body form thing. That'll probably put him in a better mood." Gray muttered.

"Am I going to Fairy Tail right now?" Juvia exclaimed. She didn't even have a place to stay, where else could she go! oh my gosh how could this be happening she thought to herself in a momentary state of panic, which she forcefully stopped before it elevated any further.

"Of course? You don't even have a place he stay." Gray said, mirroring her thoughts.

"Am I staying at the guild?" Juvia asked.

"Nope, I believe all the rooms there are currently taken up, so we can find someone to put you up there. Or Lucy can. She should be at the guild later."

"Oh that'd be perfect." Juvia said with a smile. "Lucy's so nice."

Gray laughed "Watch out, she's a demon in the mornings though."

"What do you mean?"

Gray chuckled. "Like when she just wakes up and you try to talk to her she just screeches at you until you get out of her room or shuts up." He shook his head. "I was just asking where she keeps her cereal."

"Do you two.. Live together?" Juvia asked for clarification.

Gray chuckled again. "Oh no, we just like bugging her in the morning for breakfast and stuff. And her house is the closest to the station so we sleepover there whenever we have to leave early. She's used to company like us, so I'm pretty sure she won't mind you for a few nights. You can begin apartment hunting tomorrow. Or there's Fairy Hill's a dorm room for the girl residents. But,.. I think they're full right now too."

Juvia considered for a bit. She hasn't lived anywhere except in that tiny house with her grandma for the most part of her life. Sure she and her parents lived in a house before her dad had run off on them, and her mother died, but she was so young when it happened it brought no memories to her. It's going to be so exciting living alone, Juvia decided.

"Yeah, I should look into that tomorrow."  
"I have no work lined, so I can help you." Gray offered. "And we can go on a job together soon, since it's your first one you shouldn't go alone. We can ask Lucy too. Natsu's a bit...crazy so let's leave him out of this one." Gray said. Juvia was unsure if he was joking or not.

"Natsu- san seems like a lot of fun, though." Juvia said.

"Yeah he is." Gray agreed. "I'm joking about leaving him out because he's crazy, it's just usually tradition to go on first jobs in pairs or smaller groups."  
"It is?" Juvia asked.

Gray shrugged. "I went on my first real job outside of the city with only Loke, despite already being in Natsu's team already. It was actually both our first jobs outside of the city, and it was pretty awesome. He's taking a long job right now though so you won't be able to meet him. But yeah, like if I went with you I would just help you get the feel of one, especially since you haven't really used much magic before."

"That would be..nice." Juvia said. Her heart quickened a bit at the idea of going on an actual job so soon. Usually she would be revising magic history into a lesson plan all day on Sundays if she were still at home.

The two were continuing their walk to the guild when an extremely important thought popped into her head.

"Wait, how do I become a member of Fairy Tail?" She asked, realizing she hadn't even thought of the joining a guild process. "Do i have to pass some magical tests?"

"Nope, it's quite simple actually. Just tell Makarov your magic type and why you want to join the guild." Gray said.

"There's no formal recruitment process?"

"Well, there usually is for mages that show up out of the blue and have no background information, but you're with us. As in 3 official members see the potential in your magical abilities, and that's good enough for Makaron. That's how Lucy joined. Natsu brought her back while he was out on a solo trip."

"Wow.. am I even worthy of such a title so easily?" Juvia asked, thinking.

"Of course. We wouldn't go around inviting every mage we run into on missions to our guild. We still gotta keep our namesake." Gray joked. He placed a hand on her head, in a slight teasing manner. "And you'll get stronger really fast here, even if your magical abilities aren't at the level of the other mages there. Trust me, you're going to need to if you want to survive even hanging out in the guild." He shuddered, and Juvia pouted, suddenly pictureing when Erza drew her sword just to end Natsu and Gray's little spat over the map. But with like 50 other mages who were just as powerful.

Another thought sprung into her head.

"Also I totally forgot to mention this, but I think I met a father and son from Fairy Tail. If i recall, the little boy's name was Romeo?'

"Oh! Right, I think Natsu mentioned that 2 nights ago. You sold them the keychains. I hope they'll remember you, too." Gray said earnestly.

Juvia blushed. That was a really kind thing to say about someone who had only been doing her job. He had removed his hand from her head right after, but she had been surprised when he did that. In fact, she was surprised he was such a genuinely nice person, especially since her first impression of him was grouchy, and blunt, and tired. But it had been almost midnight at the time, and he had just finished up a huge fight (she presumed). This was probably what he was really like, she decided.

Also, Juvia would like to point out to herself that he was probably one of the best looking guys she's ever seen in her life. Certainly now, when they've been walking so close for the past few minutes, and he was, huh. Shirtless all of a sudden.

"Your shirt!" Juvia squeaked, taking a few steps back in surprise. When did he take it off?

"Oh shit!" Gray yelled, his hands on the waistband of his jeans. "This stripping habit just takes control of my limbs from time to time. I'm sorry."

"It's..okay." She finished, lamely, unable to deny to herself that he certainly had a really nice physic. And that his Fairy Tail insignia looked amazing stamped on his chest.

Gray laughed out loud at how flustered she was. Her entire face was red, and hidden behind her hands. "I'll try to keep it under control tomorrow at least. No one's going to sell a house to a girl walking with a guy half clothed."

Juvia brought her hands down and willed her face to cool down by slightly fanning herself. "If i can't get a house because i'm associated with a pervert, I'm breaking into Lucy's house with you guys." Juvia pouted.

"You will be greatly welcomed by our grade a Breaking and Entering team. We needed someone to subdue that Plue thing she keeps as a pet dog." Gray said. They walked a few more steps in comfortable silence, when.

"Well, here we are." Gray announced. He spread his arms open to display what was a multistory building with the sign Fairy Tail written beautiful on a gold plaque above it's double doors. A flag with their insignia hung proudly from the 3rd floor and Juvia could barely believe her eyes. It was such calm looking building, and somehow it radiated warmth and energy just in it's tall stature.

"It's even a beautiful building." Juvia breathed.

"Sure is." Gray agreed. "C'mon. Let's go in." He pushed the doors open and immediately formed an ice shield as a barrel hurled towards them.

Juvia stepped back, shocked. Was there a fight going on?

"Hey, I'm bringing a new face in, can you try not to throw barrels right at the door please." Gray shouted but completely unfazed by what just happened.

"Hey sorry man, was just trying to aim at Cana." a huge tall man shouted back, already holding another barrel ready above his head.

"Missed me!" A girl with long brown hair, sporting only a bra shouted as she darted by the 2. "Oh hey Gray." She called out. "Elfman is pissed that i took this high paying job from him."

"Damn right i am!" Elfman roared, and flung the barrel at full force at Cana again. This time hitting the wall beside the door and being much closer to his target than the last attempt. No one else was paying close attention to the fight however, as Juvia noticed that everyone at the guild had begun shouting and launching their own choice of weapon at each other. There were no distinct sides, just a mess of food and broken crates everywhere.

"Um. Yeah this is normal. And the walls are magically sound proof as to not cause worry to our town" Gray explained. He protectively placed an arm over her shoulder. "And unfortunately Makarov's room is at the back." They scaled through the fight along the walls, Gray pressing her against it, while he occasionally threw up shields at flying debris.

"Hey Gray, who's this?" A pretty girl with flowing white hair who was behind the bar asked. They made it thru the guild safely, but with a couple of close calls. Wiping away at 2 already pristine looking glasses, seeming oblivious to what was happening in front of her, the bartender offered a kind smile Juvia's way. Surprisingly no debris flew close to the bar area.

"This is Juvia. Juvia, this is Mirajane. Our guild's prized possession, and best cook in the city." Gray introduced. Juvia stuck out her hand for a hand shake.

"Lovely! A new recruit? Shall I get the master?" Mirajane asked in an angelic voice, paired perfectly with her angelic smile.

"Yes please. And 2 burgers please. We're starving."

"Of course, 1 master and 2 burgers coming right up."

"She's like the only person at the guild whos not insane." Gray explained. He gestured for Juvia to sit.

"This is a lot like the 1st grade classroom I teach in sometimes." Juvia stated, "except they only had erasers and sharpeners to throw." She winced, watching when a barrel finally made contact with Cana. But Cana just took the hit, fell over, promptly stood up, and flung it right back at Elfman. The barrel shattered at his chest and shrapnel flew, hitting a table of people calmly talking. They joined the fight too.

"Great comparison for what this guild is, actually." A voice called from beneath her. Juvia looked down. Standing beside her, a small old man who's height barely reached her waist, and he held out an outstretched hand.

"Master Makaron. Nice to meet you. I heard you wanted to join the guild." He had a toothy smile and a firm handshake.

"Yes, that would be such an honor, Master Makarov." Juvia said, with a large bow.

"Haha, you are quiet a polite one to be brought in by our grouchy old Gray." Makarov teased.

"Che" Gray scoffed.

"Oh no, Gray-sama has been very nice to me!" Juvia defended.

"Sama?" Mirajane said, with a chuckle.

Juvia nodded vigorously.

Makarov chuckled too. He waved his hand and a stamp appeared.  
"Alright girl, lets see where you want the stamp."

Juvia didn't realize she hadn't made this decision yet. He hadn't even asked her what kind of mage she where should she get the stamp? Her hands? Her arms? No her grandma said those places who the general public could see should remain spotless.

Juvia hiked up the hem of her dress.

"Here please." She said.

"Lovely." Makarov said, and stamped the marking on her left thigh. "You have beautiful legs." he remarked.

"ehh?" Juvia said after he finished the brand, flushing slightly.

"Perverted old man." Gray muttered under his breath. No one could tell but his cheeks had momentarily flushed red when she called him -sama just now.

"Well that'll be all then." He said. "If you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my nap. Gray, hand over the guilds commission from the job to Mirajane." With that Makarov wandered off to behind the bar again, not evening asking for any further information on the new mage. His trust in Gray's taste for mages must be really high, Juvia subsciously noted.

"About that.." Gray started sheepishly, turning to Mira.

He had explained his situation to Mirajane during dinner, giving a full report of the job and trying to explain why it was necessary that Natsu had to punch down an entire bridge to drown the robber when he could have just subdued him with a blast of fire, or just simply tackling him. Mira nodded as if she fully believed his excuses, but had let him go, making "no commission" on a sheet of paper that she had grabbed from the poach that hung on her hip. They ended their conversation discussing Juvia. He explained how they ran into her 3 times during their stay at Atha, and how she showed them this amazing trick she could do, that prompted her invite to the guild.

"Oh right I totally forgot to mention this amazing trick she showed us. We've never seen anything like it!"

"What's the trick?" Mira exclaimed.

"Come on, show her." Gray urged.

Juvia blushed, still not used to having to show her magic around other people.

"Just watch," Gray instructed, and offered Juvia an encouraging smile.

Juvia summoned her magic again, and instantly became a body of water.

"Wow!" Mira exclaimed. "How did you do that?"

Gray shrugged and answered for her. "How do you turn into demons, how does Natsu eat fire for a living."

Juvia blushed again and sat down, finding it hard to meet Mira's genuinely amazed eyes.

"That's a really cool trick. And you haven't been studying water magic for that long right?"

"I haven't been training my magic, but I've been studying all types of magic history." Juvia explained. "I read about the first water mage who learned his trick and thought it was the one worth learning first.'

"Oh you showed them the water body?" Lucy asked, bounding up to the bar.

"Lucy!" Juvia exclaimed. "Hey again! How'd Natsu feeling?"

"Oh, he's totally fine. He's sleeping now and I'm just here to bring him some food. I'm staying over at his place tonight cause we're catching the early bus to watch Gajeel's cat symphony, remember." Lucy said to Gray, with a sigh.

"Oh right." Gray said. "That was tomorrow."

"You sure you don't wanna come with us?" Lucy asked, exasperated. "Also Mira can i get 5 burgers to go. Natsu's going to eat me br o k e." She huffed.

"Not at all." Gray said.

"That's what i figured. Sorry I'm so busy on your first few days here." Lucy apologized to Juvia. "But I'll be back in a few days, we can explore the city or go on missions together then?" She suggested.

"I would love that." Juvia said excitedly.

"Hey, show me your mark!"

Juvia pulled up her skirt again to reveal the newly branded dark blue mark on her leg. She admired it proudly herself, and Lucy smiled widely.  
"I'm so excited for you! I remember when I got my branding, I really felt like I was starting my life over. For good."

Which is exactly how Juvia felt when she looked at her own mark.

Mira came back with 5 burgers, all placed in a giant take out bag.

"Here you go, tell Natsu I put extra ketchup on all of them."

"Thanks Mira." Lucy said. She pulled out her wallet, and painstakingly handed over 2500 jewels. "That boy better buy my train fare tomorrow." Lucy muttered.

"So you can't take Juvia in for the night?" Gray asked.

Oh right, Juvia had almost forgotten she didn't even have a place to stay.

"Oh right!" Lucy said. "You don't even have a place to stay! No you can totally go to my place, I just won't be there."

"Lucy-san that's so nice, are you sure?" Juvia asked.

"Of course of course, we can't have you homeless. All the rooms are booked in the guild and Fairy Hills right?" She asked Mira.

Mira nodded in confirmation.

"But you might be lonely." Lucy finished, "Crap do you know where Smith street is?"

"I can show her." Gray said. "Or you can just stay with me tonight, since my apartment is so much closer."

"Oh wow Gray, I've literally never heard you offer your apartment up to anyone." Mira said in shock.

"Wait a second, that's right I don't even know anything about where you live." Lucy agreed. "Since you're always at my place."

"I'm not homeless you know!" Gray exclaimed. But he turned to Juvia and in a much nicer tone offered again.

"It's really no hassle for me, since we're going apartment hunting tomorrow anyways."

"Oh.. apartment hunting, together?" Mira said, in a teasing tone, with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

Juvia blushed furiously when she realized when Mira was implying, and Gray glared at her direction. "Lucy, Natsu and Erza are out at Gajeel's cat circus-" "choir" Lucy piped in. "she shouldn't go alone." he explained.

"Whatever you say" Mira said with another eyebrow wiggle.

Lucy laughed. "Well I should really go back. Erza was cooking rice when I last left and I'm kind of scared she's going to burn his whole house down."

She gave Juvia a full hug.

"Lets hang out when I'm back, okay." She said. "And when you're settled in."

"Yes!" Juvia agreed.

As Lucy walked out, she skillfully dodged a chair that nearly grazed her bag of takeout.

"HEY WATCH IT!" She screeched, "If there are less than 5 burgers in this bag, Natsu's going to be complaining the whole night and if i have to deal with that you're going to gET IT from aquarius when i come back." She screamed at the mess of where the chair came from. No one paid her any attention, and it was apparent she also had no idea where that chair came from.

"See, you'll get used to it in no time." Gray said. He went back to telling her about some of the other members, with Mirajane leaning her head on her arms across the bar, listening in. They were joined by a few others occasionally who wanted food, or just to get away from the fighting. They told her about their experiences here to. Surprisingly, there were a lot of people who had joined here on a whim too, and others who had grew up their whole life knowing this is exactly where they wanted and had to end up at. Juvia classified her own experience as something in the middle of these two. She had been dreaming of a place to go to outside her town ever since she was young, but it had not been Fairy Tail until she noticed the distinction from their guild's mages versus the others. And she was definitely invited on a whim than through standard referrals.

The sun outside had almost completely set, indicating that it was almost 10. Juvia usually was a night owl, but she was undeniably tired from the day she had. The guild hall had only gotten rowdier as people began to drink.

"Wanna call this a day?" Gray whispered to Juvia as she flung her eyes open, unaware she had closed them while listening to Jet, or was it Drop talk about their perfect teammate Levy was but complaining she was out with Gajeel at the cat thing. She interested in what they had to say, but she was also undeniably exhausted. But exhausted in a way where she didn't mind that she could barely keep her eyes open, Because it was exhaustion stemmed from voluntary overexertion of energy. Something she hasn't felt in...quite a while.

"Yes, please." She whispered back, but smiled at Jet's rambling.

"Well we're going to take off." Gray announced, grabbing her backpack off the ground for Juvia. Jet cut off mid sentence, and Juvia jumped off the chair.

"Yes, I'm so sorry but today was so tiring. It was so nice to meet you all, you too Jet."  
"I'm Droy!" the one who had been talking to her said. The real Jte burst out laughing.

"Ah, sorry!" Juvia apologized profusely. Gray chuckled.

"She's probably exhausted having come from being a small town shop owner to dealing with this Guild after a train ride of hearing Natsu retch for 3 hours."

Juvia bowed and delicately took her bag back.

"Oh, you two are going together?" Drop said, with an eyebrow wiggle identical to Mirajane's.

"Yes, shut it. She has no place to go and Lucy's out."

"Wow, we've never been invited to your house." Jet said, with a fake pout. "I thought you were homeless."

"Ahh, shut up the lot of you." Gray called. "Lets go." He tapped Juvia's lower back and she promptly followed. Her senses kicked in and she and Gray ducked at the same time at a flying barrel.

"Nice one." He said with a smirk. "See, we're learning already."

"Thanks for inviting me over." Juvia said when they had walked together briefly for a few minutes.

"Hey no problem at all. My house is always open, but I just don't know why Jet and Droy assume I'm just going to randomly invite them over or something."

"Thanks anyways." Juvia said, thinking of how shocked Mira seemed about the invite. The stars were out tonight and they were rather beautiful. In fact every around her at the moment was rather beautiful in her dream like state from exhaustion. "You're really nice."

"S'no problem." he repeated, giving her one last smile before placing his hand on her head again.  
"I just hope you had a good day."

AN: okay idk if Gray is OOC here but in my mind, he was always someone who was quiet nice and inviting to new people he meets. I figured he was only like that with Juvia in the anime cause of how they met, and was just reacting to how weirdly she was acting to him. Although i shipped Gruvia since the moment they met, (as in i still found their character dynamic cute at that point, too) hehe this is fanfiction and I wanted to change it up a bit. She'll definitely get more obsessive and vocal about her love as Juvia is, but for now, since they're just meeting for the first time and not established friends yet i wanted to keep them lowkey and show how they grow and change as they get closer to each other. (Also i was going for the 'he was lowkey fliritng cause he found her cute but didn't even realize he was flirting' interaction XD dunno if i pulled it off or he just seemed kinda cr e e py)

As to where this story is going, I'm honestly so bad at writing plot? Like i don't have any ideas for now other than probably an OC just cause i don't think Juvia shouldn't join team Natsu right away and make her own team/friends first. (TBH i used to be so salty that wendy joined team natsu right away but juvia didn't, but realized i liked her dynamic with Gray as guildmates who aren't teammates hehe.) Also does anyone have suggestions for mission ideas XD. all i can think of is catching robbers and being bodyguards. (And i was going to pull a naruto and make Gray trick Juvia into taking a mission about finding a lost cat in the city after hyping it to be a really big deal. Should i do that LOOL, that'll give me a next chapter idea, and it's summer and online classes start on the 10th so all i'm doing is watching netflix dramas anyways. That would be a cute little chapter to write hehe.)

Anyways, i'm rambling. Hope you've all liked the story if you made it this far! Like, comment, subscribe for more! Jks, but reviews, favourites, and follows are all greatly appreciated!

3


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